Machines for lasting and sewing shoes



Jan. 10, 1956 o. R. HAAS MACHINES FOR LASTING AND SEWING SHOES 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed June 12 1951 l 3 3 I 3 IF: IF LP klkInventor 0M0 A. Haas HAAS MACHINES FOR LASTING AND SEWING SHOES OriginalFiled June 12, 1951 Jan. 10, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 In 2/ emor Ozfo RHaas Jan. 10, 1956 o. R. HAAS MACHINES FOR LASTING AND SEWING SHOESOriginal Filed June 12, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor 0m Haas UnitedStates Patent Office 2,729,836 Patented. Jan. 10, 1656 MACHINES FORLASTING AND SEWING SHOES Otto R. Haas, Wenham, Mass, assignor to UnitedShoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. 1., a corporation of NewJersey.

Original application June 12, 1951, Serial No. 231,082, now Patent No.2,723,633, dated November 15, 1955. Divided and this applicationDecember 11, 1952, Serial No. 325,357

3 Claims. (Cl. 12--9.1)

The present invention relates to improvements in machines for operatingabout the margin of a shoe supported on a last and more particularly toa machine, the operating means for which include lasting and sewingdevices for securing together the upper and sole of a shoe, the machineas a whole being similar in many respects to that illustrated in UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 2,359,662, granted October 3, 1944, uponapplication of A. R. Merrill, and identical to that disclosed in anapplication for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 231,082, filedJune 12, 1951, of which the present application is a division and uponwhich Patent No. 2,723,633 was granted November 15 1955. The machine inwhich the illustrated embodiment of the invention is disclosed, has ashoe supporting jack and actuating mechanisms for imparting positioningand feeding movements to the jack to cause the jacked shoe to bepresented to the operating means and to transfer the operation about theshoe as the shoe is fed and upper tensioning grippers are provided tolast the shoe simultaneously with the sewing operation.

The principal objects of the invention are to simplify and improve theoperation of a machine for lasting and fastening a shoe and to renderthe machine more easily controlled, accurate and reliable in theperformance of its operating devices on a shoe. A further object is torender the control and co-ordination with the stitch-forming or otherfastening devices of a machine of the type referred to, more effectiveand more easily adjustable than heretofore, especially in a machineacting automatically to impart positioning and feeding movements to ashoe being operated upon.

In any automatic machine of the type referred to having devices forlasting and sewing a shoe, special requirements must be met as a resultof the limited space available about the operating point on the shoe andalso as a result of automatic operation which necessitates improvedcontrol of the lasting devices.

In carrying out the present invention an automatic lasting and sewingmachine is provided having a curved hook needle, a lasting grippercomprising jaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to thepoint of needle operation, a main sewing shaft having cams, a shoesupporting jack actuated by a pattern cam shaft rotating with the sewingshaft, a carrier upon which one of the gripper jaws is supportedrigidly, and upon which the other jaw is pivotally connected, andmechanism for actuating the jaws comprising three separate leverscapable of independent operation by cams on the sewing shaft, in whichthe jaw actuating mechanism is thrown out of operation eitherautomatically by a pattern mechanism or by a manual control, the controlbeing independently effected in either case. When the machine is of thefully automatic type it is equipped with a shoe supporting jack and apattern mechanism for imparting positioning movements to the jack. Inthis latter case control of the gripper jaws is exercised wholly by thepattern mechanism.

The several features of the invention consist in the devices,combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described andclaimed, which together with the advantages to be obtained thereby willreadily be understood from the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a view in right side elevation of a machine embodying theseveral features of the invention and illustrating a shoe partly insection at the point of operation of the operating devices;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in right side elevation of the forward headportion of the machine, illustrating the lasting gripper jaws andactuating mechanisms therefor;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the lasting gripper jaws, looking in thedirection of the arrow III of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a partially sectional plan view of the head section of themachine including the lasting gripper jaws and actuating mechanisms.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is constructed for sewing theinseams of Goodyear welt shoes and comprises a frame made up of severalparts including a floor section 2, housing foot treadle controls andshoe supporting jack raising mechanism, a midsection 4, housing jacksupporting and pattern cam controlled actuating mechanism for the jackand a head section 6, housing welt sewing and driving and stoppingmechanisms.

The operating devices for sewing are arranged to insert a chain stitchseam and include a curved hook needle 8 movable in the line of feed toassist in feeding the work, a thread traction or tension wheel 10controlled by a main sewing cam shaft 12, a work feeding channel guide14, a welt guide 16 and side lasting mechanism having gripperscomprising jaws 18 and 20 movable toward and from engagement with anupper, indicated at 22, of a Goodyear welt shoe to stretch the upperover a last 24 upon which it is mounted and bring it into lastedrelation with the sewing rib along the margin of an insole 26 alsomounted on the last. As the operation progresses the stitches of theinseam pass through the insole, the upper and a welt 28 carried by thewelt guide 16.

The shoe supporting jack is indicated at 30 (Fig. 1) and consists of anupright spindle similar to that disclosed in United States LettersPatent No. 2,406,306, granted August 20, 1946, upon an application of A.R. Morrill. At the upper end of the spindle the shoe is secured in theusual way by clamping, the clamping parts thereupon being locked in orreleased from clamping position.

The jack supporting and pattern cam actuating mechanism includes asupporting structure formed by the supporting spindle on the jack 30, ahorizontal supporting arm 32 at the forward end of which the lower endof the jack spindle is pivotally mounted to rotate and swing withtipping and turning movements in any direction on gimbal joints, a pitchsupport lever 34 on which the arm 32 is mounted to swing vertically anda roll support lever or frame 36 pivotally mounted at its lower end inthe frame section 4. These parts are arranged to impart feeding, tippingand turning movements to the jack and the shoe thereon over a wide rangeof angles to transfer the point of operation along the shoe and to bringthe shoe into proper positioning relation to the stitch forming and workfeeding devices of the sewing head as the point of operation istransferred about the shoe. The mechanism for actuating the jacksupporting structure includes links and levers actuated by a series ofcams 38 on a vertical pattern cam shaft 40 rotating and drivensimultaneously with the main sewing shaft in the jack supporting section4 of the frame. The machine as thus far described is essentially of thesame construction and nation with the stitch-forming devices of themachine. In previous machines of the type in which the illustratedmachine is an example, the lasting grippers have been actuatedpositively toward and from upper grasping position and with anoverdrawmotion from the margin of a shoe sole inwardly toward the center of thesole. Hereto'fore one or at the most two separate cam actuated levershave been employed for actuating the jaws. In the lasting gripperactuating mechanism hereinafter described a more reliable and accuratecontrol of the gripper movements than heretofore has been insured by theuse of three separate cam'actuated levers and independent sets ofconnections with the jaws, one lever and connections for actuating thejaws to grasp and release an upper, another lever and connections toactuate the carrier for the jaws in 'a direction to tension the upperand a third lever and connections for actuating the carrier for the jawsinwardly of a shoe sole with an overdraw motion.

The mechanisms for actuating the lasting gripper ,jaws 18 and 20 arebest shown in Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive. "The gripper jaw 20 is supportedrigidly on a carrier 42 and the other jaw 18 has a pivotal connection onthe carrier. The pivotal connection comprises a stud 44 in the lowerportion of the carrier. After grasping the upper the jaws move a shortdistance vertically to clear the sewing rib along a path, indicated bythe dot-dash line 46 in Fig. 2,

' directly in line with the channel guide 14 so that the pull of thejaws is taken up by the channel guide. After clearing the sewing rib thejaws are given an overdraw motion extending toward the center of theshoe bottom, the path of movement represented by the line 46 beinginclined to the bottom of the insole 26 so as to exert a tensioning pullon the upper in a direction to lay it against the sewing rib.

' To actuate the gripper jaws with an upper tensioning movement thecarrier 42 is connected by screws 48 to the forward end of a cam lever'50 formed along its central portion with a rectangular guide boxh'aving a cover plate 52. Within the guide box is a block 54 rotatablymounted on a stud 56 about which the cam lever rocks during the uppertensioning movement of the gripper jaws. The stud '56 is clamped infixed position within a lug portion of the head section 6 of the machineframe and serves as a fulcrum for the block 54. The cam lever St has atits upper end a roll 58 engaging a slot 69 in one of the cams on thesewing shaft 12. The slot 60 has a portion of enlarged width which isengaged by the cam roll 58 when the machine 'is in stopping position, asillustrated in Fig. 2. To maintain the cam roll against the outer sideof the slot the lever is connected to a vertical tension spring 62stretched between a pin on the lever and a fixed part of the machineframe. The inner side of the slot 60 is made concentric with the shaft12 so that when the roll 58 is moved inwardly against the inner side ofthe slot no upper tensioning motion will be imparted to the gripper jawsand they will be retained raised in an inoperative position out ofcontact with a shoe being operated on.

To actuate the jaws in grasping and releasing the upper, a set ofconnections separate from those for tensioning the upper is provided.The connections for actuating the jaws to grasp and release the uppercomprise a second cam lever 64 fulcrurned on a pivot shaft 66 andprovided with a roll 68 engaging a slot 70 in a cam on the sewing shaft.The lever 64 has pivotally connected to it one end of a link '72, theother end of which is similarly connected to the midportion of a lever74 rotatable.

maintain the pin 78 against the inner end of the slot in the link 80 thepin is surrounded by one end of a tension spring 86 the other end ofwhich is engaged with a pin 88 on the link 80. The spring 86 enables thepivoted jaw 18 to yield in grasping an'upper and insures obtaining asecure grip regardless of the thickness of the upper.

For the third motion imparted to the gripper jaws, which is that ofoverdraw toward the center of a shoe bottom, the guide box portion ofthe cam lever St) is connected by a link 90 with one arm of a cam lever92 fulcrumed on the pivot shaft 66. The cam lever 92 has at one end aroll 94 engaging a slot 96 in a cam on the shaft 12 and movement of theoverdraw cam lever 92 slides the guide box of the lever 51) along theblock 54 to the most effective results possible.

motions imparted to lasting gripper jaws are produced by a single camlever or even by two cam levers.

Along certain portions of a shoe it is desirable to throw out ofoperation the gripper jaws so that they will be inoperative particularlywhile sewing those parts of an upper adjacent to the heel seat of ashoe. The actuating mechanism for throwing the gripper jaws out ofoperation along these portions of a shoe is similar to that disclosed inUnited States Letters Patent No. 2,323,347, granted iuly 6, 1943, uponapplication of Alfred R. Merrill. Briefly, the connections of thismechanism are actuated by the pattern earn shaft 40 and include an arm98 on the cam lever 50 having a shoulder engaged by a throwout lever 100loosely sleeved on the r ck shaft 76 and provided with lugs 102 (seeFig. 4) engaging radial slots in the hub of a channel guide controllever Hi4 secured to the rock shaft 76. The throw-out lever Ni) and thecontrol lever 104 also are connected by a tension spring 105 stretchedbetween pins on the respective levers. The rock shaft 76 also hassecured to it an arm N36 to which is pivotally connected the upper endof a link 198, having its lower end similarly connected to a lever inthe pattern mechanism. When the link In? is raised to the limit of itsmovement the throw-out lever 16%) forces the arm 76 rearwardly andswings the gripper jaws to inopera'tive raised positions about the stud56. In swinging the gripper jaws to inoperative raised positions, thelever 50 swinging about the stud 56, the cam roll 53 engages the innerside of the cam slot 6i) so that no mot-ion is imparted to the gripperjaws toward or from a shoe.

At the same time that the throw out lever lei) forces the grippers toinoperative positions the channel guide control lever 104 engages thebottom face of a notch in a channel guide supporting slide 112,depressing the slide and channel guide 14 to an abnormally low position,the

purpose 'of which is more fully described in Patent No.

To enable "the gripper jaws to be moved to an inoperative positionindependently of the pattern mechanism without depressing the channelguide to its abnormally low position and to maintain the gripper jawsinoperative throughout the operation on a shoe a manually actuated throw"out member is provided separate from the throw out lever 100. Themanually actuated throw out member comprises an arm 114 secured to arock shaft 116 rotatably mounted above the cam lever 50. The free end ofthethrow-out ar'rn114 is rounded and when the shaft 116 is rocked in aclockwise direction the arm engages the uppersurface of the cam lever5t) forcing it downwardly against the spring 62 until the cam roll 58engages the inner side of the slot 60. The cam lever 50 is formed with astop finger 118 to prevent movement of the throw out arm in a clockwisedirection sufiiciently to release the cam lever 50. To actuate the rockshaft 116 it extends through the head frame 6 of the machine (Fig. 1)and is provided outside of the frame with a handle arm 120 readilyaccessible to the operator. For retaining the throw out arm 114 out ofengagement with the cam lever 50 one of the bearings for the rock shaft116 in the head frame is provided with a friction device (not shown) toprevent accidental rotation of the rock shaft.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and aparticular embodiment having been described what is claimed is:

1. A shoe lasting and sewing machine having inseam sewing and lastingdevices, including a curved hook needle and a lasting gripper comprisingjaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to the sewing point, amain sewing shaft, cams on the sewing shaft, a carrier upon which one ofthe gripper jaws is rigidly supported, a pivotal connection for theother gripper jaw on the carrier, suitable connections for actuating thejaws to grasp and release the upper and for actuating the carrier tocause the jaws to tension the upper and to move toward the center of theshoe bottom with an overdraw motion, a shoe supporting jack and apattern mechanism for imparting feeding, tipping and turning movementsto the jack to transfer the point of operation about the shoe, incombination with three separate levers actuated by the cams on thesewing shaft for operating the gripper jaws, and other connectionsactuated by the pattern mechanism and operatively connected to one ofthe levers in the gripper actuating connections to render said gripperjaws inoperative during operation of the sewing devices about certainportions of the shoe.

2. A shoe lasting and sewing machine havinginseam sewingand lastingdevices including a curved hook needle and a lasting gripper comprisingjaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to the sewing point, amain sewing shaft, cams on the sewing shaft, a carrier upon which one ofthe gripper jaws is rigidly supported, a pivotal connection for theother gripper jaw on the carrier, a shoe supporting jack and a patterncam shaft for imparting feeding and turning movements to the jack totransfer the point of operation about the shoe, in combination withthree separate levers actuated by cams on the sewing shaft, independentsets of connections between the cam levers and the gripper jaw carrier,one of which sets actuates the jaws to grasp and release the upper,another of which causes the jaws to tension the upper and the third ofwhich moves the jaws toward the center of a shoe bottom with an overdrawmotion, and a throw-out lever controlled by the pattern cam shaft actingon the gripper jaw carrier along certain portions of a shoe to retainthe gripper jaws inoperative.

3. A shoe lasting and sewing machine having inseam sewing and lastingdevices including, a curved hook needle and a lasting gripper comprisingjaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to the sewing point, amain sewing shaft, cams on the sewing shaft, a carrier upon which one ofthe gripper jaws is rigidly supported, a pivotal connection for theother gripper jaw on the carrier, a shoe supporting jack and a patterncam shaft for imparting feeding and turning movements to the jack totransfer the point of operation about the shoe, in combination withthree separate levers actuated by the cams on the sewing shaft,independent sets of connections between the cam levers and the gripperjaw carrier, one of which sets actuates the jaws to grasp and releasethe upper, another of which causes the jaws to tension the upper and thethird of which moves the jaws toward the center of a shoe bottom with anoverdraw motion, a throw-out lever controlled by the pattern cam shaftacting on the gripper jaw carrier along certain portions of a shoe toretain the gripper jaws inoperative, and a throwout member acting on thecam lever which tensions the upper to render the gripper jawsinoperative throughout the operation of the sewing devices about theentire length of an inseam.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS467,877 Patton Jan. 26, 1892 1,054,733 Winkley Mar. 4, 1913 1,634,503 LaChapelle July 5, 1927

